7.3. Biological weapons. Particularly dangerous infections

Biological weapons(BP) are pathogenic microbes and their bacterial poisons (toxins) intended to infect people, animals, plants, and the means of delivering them to the target.

Biological weapons, like chemical weapons, do not cause damage to buildings, structures and other material assets, but infect people, animals, plants, and contaminate food and feed supplies, water and water sources. Biological weapons are weapons whose destructive effect is based on the pathogenic properties of microorganisms (causative agents of diseases in humans, animals and plants). basis lethal effect biological weapons are bacterial agents - bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi and toxic products of their vital activity, used for military purposes using live infected disease carriers (insects, rodents, ticks) or in the form of suspensions and powders.

Biological agents are a source of infectious diseases that affect people, animals, and plants. Diseases common to humans and animals are called zooanthroponoses.

Mass diseases that spread over large areas in a short time are called epidemic(if people are sick) epizootic(if animals are sick) epiphytoty(for plant diseases). A disease that has spread to several countries or entire continents is called pandemic.

As a result of the use of biological weapons, biological lesion- a territory in which, as a result of the use of biological agents, mass infection of people, animals, and plants with infectious diseases occurred.

The size of the lesion depends on the type of microorganisms, method of application, meteorological conditions and terrain.

The boundaries of the focus of biological damage are most often determined by the boundaries of populated areas.

To prevent the further spread of infectious diseases from the primary outbreak, restrictions are introduced - quarantine and observation.

Quarantine– a system of government measures carried out in an epidemic outbreak, aimed at its complete isolation and elimination.

Quarantine includes administrative - economic (prohibition of entry and exit of people, export of animals, feed, plants, fruits, seeds, acceptance of parcels), anti-epidemic, anti-epizootic, sanitary - hygienic, veterinary - sanitary, treatment - preventive measures (medical examination, isolation of patients, destruction or disposal of corpses, affected plants, seeds, immunization of people and animals, disinfection, etc.).

Observation– a system of measures to monitor isolated people (animals) arriving from outbreaks subject to quarantine or located in a threatened area.

Biological weapons have a number of features that distinguish them from nuclear and chemical weapons. It can cause widespread illness by entering the body in minute quantities. It is characterized by its ability to reproduce: having entered the body in minute quantities, it reproduces there and spreads further. It can persist for a long time in the external environment and, subsequently, give rise to an outbreak of infection. Having a latent period, during which carriers of the infection can leave the primary focus and widely spread the disease throughout the region, region, or country. It is possible to determine the pathogen in the external environment only using special methods.

The combat properties of biological weapons include: silent operation; the ability to produce a significant effect in negligible quantities; duration of action (due to epidemic spread); ability to penetrate unsealed objects; reverse action (the possibility of hitting the side that used the weapon); strong psychological impact, the ability to cause panic and fear; low cost of production. Biological weapons theorists make the following requirements for biological agents planned as means of attack: stability in environment, high virulence (the ability to cause diseases in small quantities), the ability to cause diseases in both humans and animals, high contagiousness (i.e. the ability to be easily transmitted from sick to healthy), the ability to enter the body in various ways and cause corresponding forms of the disease that are difficult to treat.

The main methods of using biological weapons remain:

Aerosol is the most promising, allowing you to infect large areas and all environmental objects;

Spread of infected carriers of infectious diseases (ticks, insects, rodents) in the area;

Sabotage - by contaminating drinking water and food products.

Currently, biological means of attack are divided into the following groups:

Means of infecting people - anthrax, plague, tularemia, smallpox, cholera, typhus, Q fever, glanders, melioidosis, hemorrhagic fevers, botulism, etc.;

Means of destruction of farm animals - anthrax, blue plague, cattle plague, equine encephalomyelitis, glanders, foot-and-mouth disease, etc.;

Means of destruction of agricultural plants - grain rust, potato late blight, potato and beet top curl virus, coffee rust, etc.

The use of combined formulations, as well as the use of biological agents in combination with toxic substances, is possible.

To calculate sanitary losses due to the impact of biological weapons, the type of pathogen, its stability in the environment, the area of ​​infection, the population size in the contaminated area, the provision of the population with protective equipment, and the preparedness of the population to act in the source of biological damage are of greatest importance.

The following types of biological agents are distinguished:

Class of bacteria - pathogens of plague, anthrax, glanders, tularemia, cholera, etc.

Class of viruses - pathogens of yellow fever, smallpox, various types of encephalitis, fever, etc.

Rickettsia class - causative agents of typhus, spotted fever of the rocky mountains, etc.

A class of fungi - causative agents of blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, histoplasmosis, etc.

As biological means, in the first place, pathogens of zooanthropological diseases can be used.

Anthrax. It is transmitted by contact with a sick person, spraying into the air, through contaminated food, feed, household items. The incubation period is 1-7 days. The causative agent is a spore-forming microbe that remains viable in the external environment for several years. Mortality without treatment in humans is up to 100%, in animals up to 60-90%, in the cutaneous form 5-15%. Vaccines and serums are available against anthrax.

Botulism. A dangerous toxin that persists in powder form for a long time. It is used by spraying in the air, contaminating water and food. The incubation period is from 2 hours to 10 days. The patient is not dangerous to others. Mortality without treatment is 70-100%. Toxoid and serums have been developed against botulism.

Tularemia. It is transmitted to humans from sick animals or dead rodents and hares through contaminated water, straw, food, as well as insects, ticks when biting others. The mortality rate for people without treatment is 7-30%, for animals 30%. There is a vaccine for protection; antibiotics are used for treatment.

Plague. Acute infectious disease. The incubation period is 2-6 days. Spread by fleas, airborne droplets, contamination of water and food. The pathogen is stable in the external environment. Mortality without treatment in the bubonic form is 30-90%, in the pulmonary and septic form - 100%. With treatment - less than 10%.

Cholera. Contagious disease. Latent period 1-5 days. Infection occurs through water, food, insects, and airborne spray. The pathogen is stable in water for up to one month, in food products for 4-20 days. Mortality without treatment is up to 30%.

Incredible facts

At one time or another, people have tried to use every opportunity to find a new viable option for destroying each other. We have torn down forests, "turned over" religion, philosophy, science and even art in order to feed the desire of mankind to drink more blood from each other. Along the way, we have even constructed some of the most formidable viral, bacterial, and fungal weapons.

The use of biological weapons dates back to ancient world. In 1500 BC. The Hittites in Asia Minor realized the power of the contagious disease and sent a plague to enemy lands. Many armies also realized the power of biological weapons, leaving infected corpses in the enemy's fortress. Some historians even suggest that the 10 biblical plagues that Moses "called" against the Egyptians may have been biological warfare campaigns rather than vengeful acts of God.

Since those early days, advances in medical science have led to greatly improved understanding of the action of harmful pathogens and how our immune systems fight them. However, while these advances have led to the advent of vaccinations and treatments, they have also led to the further militarization of some of the most destructive biological "agents" on the planet.

The first half of the 20th century was marked by the use of biological weapons such as anthrax by both the Germans and the Japanese. Then it began to be used in the USA, Great Britain and Russia. Today, biological weapons are illegal, as their use was banned in 1972 by the Biological Weapons Convention and the Geneva Protocol. But while a number of countries have long since destroyed their stockpiles of biological weapons and stopped research on this topic, the threat still remains. In this article we will look at some of the main threats of biological weapons.

© Ivan Marjanovic / Getty Images

The term "biological weapon" tends to conjure up mental images of sterile government laboratories, special uniforms and test tubes full of brightly colored liquids. Historically, however, biological weapons have taken much more mundane forms: paper bags full of plague-infected fleas, or even a simple blanket, as seen during the French and Indian War in 1763.

Under the orders of Commander Sir Jeffrey Amherst, British troops delivered smallpox-infected blankets to Indian tribes in Ottawa. Native Americans were especially susceptible to the disease because, unlike Europeans, they had not previously been exposed to smallpox and therefore lacked adequate immunity. The disease cut through the tribes like wildfire.

Smallpox is caused by the variola virus. In the most common forms of the disease, death occurs in 30 percent of cases. Signs of smallpox include high fever, body aches, and a rash that develops from fluid-filled sores. The disease primarily spreads through direct contact with the skin of an infected person or through body fluids, but can also spread through the air in close, confined environments.

In 1976, WHO led efforts to eradicate smallpox through mass vaccination. As a result, the last case of smallpox infection was recorded in 1977. The disease has been virtually eradicated, however, laboratory copies of smallpox still exist. Both Russia and the United States possess WHO-approved specimens of smallpox, but since smallpox played a role as a biological weapon in special programs several nations, it is unknown how many secret reserves still exist.

Smallpox is classified as a Class A biological weapon due to its high mortality rate and because it can be transmitted through the air. Although a smallpox vaccine exists, generally only health care workers and military personnel are vaccinated, this means that the rest of the population is at potential risk if this type of biological weapon is used in practice. How can a virus be released? Probably in aerosol form, or even the old-fashioned way: sending an infected person directly to the target area.

© Dr_Microbe/Getty Images

In the fall of 2001, letters containing white powder began arriving at US Senate offices. When word spread that the envelopes contained spores of the deadly bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax, panic began. The anthrax letters infected 22 people and killed five.

Due to its high mortality rate and resistance to environmental changes, anthrax bacteria are also classified as a Class A biological weapon. The bacterium lives in soil, and animals that frequently graze on it usually come into contact with the bacterium's spores while searching for food. A person can become infected with anthrax by touching, inhaling or swallowing the spores.

In most cases, anthrax infection occurs through skin contact with the spores. The deadliest form of anthrax infection is inhalation, in which the spores enter the lungs and are then carried by immune system cells to the lymph nodes. There, the spores begin to multiply and release toxins, which lead to the development of problems such as fever, breathing problems, fatigue, muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Among those infected with inhalational anthrax, the most high level mortality, and, unfortunately, it was this form that all five victims of the 2001 letters fell ill with.

The disease is extremely difficult to catch under normal conditions, and it is not transmitted from person to person. However, healthcare workers, veterinarians and military personnel are routinely vaccinated. Along with the lack of widespread vaccination, "longevity" is another feature of anthrax. Many harmful biological bacteria can only survive under certain conditions and for a short period of time. However, anthrax bacteria can sit on a shelf for 40 years and still pose a deadly threat.

These properties have made anthrax the "favorite" biological weapon among related programs around the world. Japanese scientists conducted human experiments using aerosolized anthrax bacteria in the late 1930s in occupied Manchuria. British troops experimented with an anthrax bomb in 1942, and managed to contaminate the Greenard Island test site so thoroughly that 280 tons of formaldehyde were needed to disinfect the soil 44 years later. In 1979, the Soviet Union accidentally released anthrax bacteria into the air, killing 66 people.

Today, anthrax remains one of the best known and most dangerous types of biological weapons. Numerous biological weapons programs have worked to produce and perfect the anthrax virus over the years, and as long as a vaccine exists, mass vaccination will only become viable if a mass attack occurs.

© Svisio/Getty Images

Another known killer exists in the form of the Ebola virus, one of a dozen different types of hemorrhagic fevers, nasty illnesses that cause profuse bleeding. Ebola made headlines in the 1970s when the virus spread to Zaire and Sudan, killing hundreds of people. In the decades that followed, the virus maintained its deadly reputation, spreading in deadly outbreaks across Africa. Since its discovery, at least seven outbreaks have occurred in Africa, Europe and the United States.

Named after the region of Congo where the virus was first discovered, scientists suspect it usually lives in its native African animal host, but the exact origin and range of the disease remains a mystery. Thus, experts were able to detect the virus only after it had infected humans and primates.

An infected person transmits the virus to others through contact of healthy people with the blood or other secretions of the infected person. The virus is particularly adept at spreading its virus through hospitals and clinics in Africa. The incubation period of the virus lasts 2-21 days, after which the infected person begins to show symptoms. Typical symptoms include headache, muscle pain, sore throat and weakness, diarrhea, and vomiting. Some patients suffer from internal and external bleeding. Approximately 60-90 percent of cases of infection are fatal after the disease progresses for 7-16 days.

Doctors don't know why some patients recover faster than others. They also do not know how to treat this fever, since there is no vaccine. There is only a vaccine for one form of hemorrhagic fever: yellow fever.

Although many doctors worked to develop treatments for the fever and prevent its outbreaks, a group of Soviet scientists turned the virus into a biological weapon. Initially, they were faced with the problem of growing Ebola in laboratory conditions; they achieved greater success in this field by cultivating the Marburg hemorrhagic fever virus. However, in the early 1990s they managed to solve this problem. While the virus usually spreads through physical contact with the secretions of an infected person, the researchers observed it spreading through the air in a laboratory setting. The ability to “release” weapons in aerosol form only strengthened the position of the virus in class A.

© royaltystockphoto/Getty Images

The Black Death wiped out half of Europe's population in the 14th century, a horror that continues to haunt the world even today. Dubbed the “big death,” the mere prospect of this virus returning is causing shock among people. Today, some researchers believe that the world's first pandemic may have been a hemorrhagic fever, but the term "plague" continues to be associated with another Class A biological weapon: the bacterium Yersinia Pestis.

Plague exists in two main strains: bubonic and pneumonic. Bubonic plague is usually spread through the bites of infected fleas, but can also be transmitted from person to person through contact with infected body fluids. This strain is named after the swollen glands in the groin, armpits and neck. This swelling is accompanied by fever, chills, headache and fatigue. Symptoms appear after two to three days and usually last from one to six days. If treatment is not started within 24 hours of infection, then in 70 percent of cases death cannot be avoided.

The pneumonic form of plague is less common and is spread by airborne droplets. Symptoms of this type of plague include high temperature, cough, bloody mucus and difficulty breathing.

Plague victims, both dead and alive, have historically served as effective biological weapons. In 1940, there was an outbreak of plague in China after the Japanese dropped bags of infected fleas from airplanes. Scientists in several countries are still investigating the possibility of using the plague as a biological weapon, and since the disease is still found around the world, a copy of the bacterium is relatively easy to obtain. With appropriate treatment, the fatality rate for this disease is below 5 percent. There is no vaccine yet.

© Deepak Sethi/Getty Images

Death from this infection occurs in five percent of cases. A small gram-negative rod is the causative agent of tularemia. In 1941, the Soviet Union reported 10,000 cases of the disease. Later, when the Nazi attack on Stalingrad occurred the following year, this number rose to 100,000. Most cases of infection were recorded on the German side of the conflict. Former Soviet bioweapons researcher Ken Alibek argues that this surge in infection was not an accident, but the result of biological warfare. Alibek would continue to help Soviet scientists develop a vaccine against tularemia until his escape to the United States in 1992.

Francisella tularensis occurs naturally in no more than 50 organisms and is especially common among rodents, rabbits and hares. Humans usually become infected through contact with infected animals, insect bites, or consumption of contaminated food.

Symptoms usually appear within 3-5 days depending on the method of infection. The patient may experience fever, chills, headache, diarrhea, muscle pain, joint pain, dry cough and progressive weakness. Symptoms similar to pneumonia may also develop. If left untreated, respiratory failure and death follow. The illness usually lasts no more than two weeks, but during this time infected people are mostly bedridden.

Tularemia is not spread from person to person, it is easily treated with antibiotics and can be easily avoided by getting a vaccine. However, this zoonotic infection spreads very quickly from animals to humans and is also easy to catch if it is spread as an aerosol. The infection is especially dangerous in aerosol form. Due to these factors, after the end of World War II, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and the Soviet Union began working on ways to turn it into a biological weapon.

© Molekuul/Getty Images

Take a deep breath. If the air you just breathed contains botulinum toxin, you won't know it. Deadly bacteria are colorless and odorless. However, after 12-36 hours the first symptoms appear: blurred vision, vomiting and difficulty swallowing. At this point, your only hope is to get botulism antitoxin, and the sooner you get it, the better for you. If left untreated, muscle paralysis occurs, and later paralysis of the respiratory system.

Without breathing support, this poison can kill you within 24-72 hours. For this reason, the deadly toxin is also classified as a Class A biological weapon. However, if the lungs are given help and support in their work at this moment, then the mortality rate immediately drops from 70 percent to 6, however, recovery will take time, since the poison paralyzes the nerve endings and muscles, effectively cutting off the signal from the brain. For full recovery the patient will need to “grow” new nerve endings, and this takes months. Even though a vaccine exists, many experts are concerned about its effectiveness and side effects, so it is not widely used.

It is worth noting that this neurotoxin can be found anywhere globe, it is especially abundant in soil and marine sediments. People are primarily exposed to the toxin through eating spoiled food, especially canned foods and processed meats (e.g. fried mushrooms and fish).

Its potency, availability, and limitations to cure have made botulinum toxin a favorite among biological weapons programs in many countries. In 1990, members of the Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyo sprayed the toxin to protest some political decisions, however, they failed to cause the massive death toll they expected. When the cult, however, switched to sarin gas in 1995, they killed dozens of people and injured thousands.

© kaigraphick/pixabay

Numerous biological organisms prefer cultivated food crops. Ridding cultures of their enemies is an important task for humans, since without food people will begin to panic and riot.

A number of countries, especially the United States and Russia, have devoted much research to diseases and insects affecting food crops. The fact that modern agriculture tends to focus on single-crop production only complicates matters.

One such biological weapon is rice blast, a disease caused by the imperfect fungus Pyricularia oryzae. The leaves of the affected plant become grayish in color and become filled with thousands of fungal spores. These spores multiply quickly and spread from plant to plant, significantly degrading their performance or even destroying the crop. Although breeding plants resistant to the disease is a good protective measure, rice blast poses a serious problem because you have to breed not just one strain of resistance, but 219 different strains.

This type of biological weapon does not work for sure. However, it can lead to serious starvation in poor countries, as well as financial and other types of losses and problems. A number of countries, including the United States, use this rice disease as a biological weapon. By this time, a huge amount of the harmful fungus had been collected in the United States for potential attacks on Asia.

© Miquel Rosselló Calafell / Pexels

When Genghis Khan invaded Europe in the 13th century, he accidentally introduced a terrible biological weapon. Plague of large cattle is caused by a virus that is closely related to the measles virus, and it affects cattle and other ruminants such as goats, bison and giraffes. The condition is highly contagious and causes fever, loss of appetite, dysentery and inflammation of the mucous membranes. Symptoms persist for approximately 6-10 days, after which the animal usually dies from dehydration.

For centuries, people have continually brought "sick" livestock to various parts of the globe, thereby infecting millions of cattle, as well as other domestic and wild animals. From time to time, outbreaks of the disease in Africa were so severe that they turned starving lions into man-eaters and forced herders to commit suicide. However, thanks to a massive vaccination program, rinderpest has been brought under control in most countries of the world.

Although Genghis Khan came into possession of these biological weapons by accident, many modern countries countries such as Canada and the United States are actively researching this type of bioweapon.

© Manjurul/Getty Images

Viruses adapt and evolve over time. New strains emerge, and sometimes close contact between humans and animals allows life-threatening diseases to jump to the top of the food chain. With the constant increase in the number of people on earth, the emergence of new diseases is inevitable. And every time a new outbreak appears, you can be sure that someone is bound to start looking at it as a potential biological weapon.

The Nipah virus falls into this category because it only became known in 1999. The outbreak occurred in a region of Malaysia called Nipah, infecting 265 and killing 105 people. Some believe that the virus develops naturally in fruit bats. Accurate character The transmission of the virus is uncertain, but experts believe the virus can spread through close physical contact or through contact with body fluids of an ill person. Cases of human-to-human transmission have not yet been reported.

The illness usually lasts 6-10 days, causing symptoms ranging from mild flu-like to severe encephalitis-like or brain inflammation. In some cases, the patient may experience drowsiness, disorientation, convulsions, and, moreover, the person may even fall into a coma. Death occurs in 50 percent of cases, and there is currently no standard treatment or vaccination.

The Nipah virus, along with other emerging pathogens, is classified as a Class C biological weapon. Although no country is officially researching this virus for possible use as a biological weapon, its potential is wide and its 50 percent mortality rate makes it a must-watch virus.

© RidvanArda/Getty Images

What happens when scientists start digging into genetic structure dangerous organisms, remaking it?

In Greek and Roman mythology, a chimera is a combination of body parts from a lion, goat, and snake into one monstrous form. Artists of the late Middle Ages often used this image to illustrate the complex nature of evil. In modern genetic science, a chimeric organism exists and contains the genes of a foreign body. Given its name, you probably assumed that all chimeric organisms must be terrible examples of man invading nature to further his nefarious goals. Fortunately, this is not the case. One such “chimera,” combining genes from the common cold and polio, could help treat brain cancer.

However, everyone understands that abuse of such scientific achievements is inevitable. Geneticists have already discovered new ways to increase the killing power of biological weapons such as smallpox and anthrax by specially tuning them genetic structure. By combining genes, however, scientists can create weapons that can cause two diseases to develop simultaneously. In the late 1980s, Soviet scientists worked on Project Chimera, during which they explored the possibility of combining smallpox and Ebola.

Other possible abuse scenarios are the creation of multiple strains of bacteria that require specific triggers. Such bacteria subside for a long period of time until they become active again with the help of special “irritants.” Another possible option for a chimeric biological weapon is the effect of two components on the bacterium so that it begins to work effectively. Such a biological attack would not only result in higher human mortality, but could also undermine public confidence in health initiatives, aid workers, and government officials.

Biological or bacteriological weapons are a type of weapon of mass destruction (WMD) that use various pathogens to destroy the enemy. The main purpose of its use is the mass destruction of enemy personnel; to achieve this, epidemics of dangerous diseases are provoked among his troops and civilians.

The term “bacteriological weapon” is not entirely correct, since not only bacteria are used to defeat the enemy, but also viruses and other microorganisms, as well as the toxic products of their vital activity. In addition, biological weapons include means of delivering infectious agents to the place of their use.

Sometimes entomological weapons are identified as a separate species, which use insects to attack the enemy.

Modern war is a whole complex of actions aimed at destroying the enemy’s economy. Biological weapons fit perfectly into his concept. After all, it is possible to infect not only enemy soldiers or its civilian population, but also destroy agricultural crops.

Biological weapons are the most old look weapons of mass destruction, people tried to use them in ancient times. This was not always effective, but sometimes led to impressive results.

Currently, biological weapons are outlawed: a number of conventions have been adopted prohibiting their development, storage and use. However, despite all international conventions, information regularly appears in the press about new developments of these prohibited weapons.

Many experts believe that bacteriological weapons are in some ways even more dangerous than nuclear weapons. Its properties and features are such that they may well lead to the complete destruction of the human race on the planet. Despite modern advances in the field of medicine and biology, it is not yet possible to talk about the victory of humanity over diseases. We cannot yet cope with HIV infection and hepatitis, and even a common flu leads to regular epidemics. The action of biological weapons is not selective. A virus or pathogenic bacterium does not distinguish between friend and foe, and once released, they destroy all living things in their path.

History of biological weapons

Humanity has repeatedly faced devastating epidemics and fought a huge number of wars. Often these two disasters went hand in hand. Therefore, it is not surprising that many military leaders came up with ideas about using infections as weapons.

It should be noted that high morbidity and mortality rates were common in armies of the past. Huge human concentrations, vague ideas about sanitation and hygiene, poor nutrition - all this created excellent conditions for the development of infectious diseases in the troops. Very often, many more soldiers died from illnesses than from the actions of the enemy army.

Therefore, the first attempts to use infections to defeat enemy troops were made several thousand years ago. The Hittites, for example, simply sent people suffering from tularemia to the enemy camp. In the Middle Ages, they came up with new ways to deliver biological weapons: the corpses of people and animals who died from some fatal illness were thrown into besieged cities using catapults.

The most terrible result of the use of biological weapons in antiquity is the bubonic plague epidemic in Europe, which broke out in the 14th century. During the siege of the city of Kafa (modern Feodosia), the Tatar Khan Janibek threw the corpses of people who died from the plague behind the walls. An epidemic began in the city. Some of the townspeople escaped from her on a ship to Venice, and they ended up bringing the infection there.

Soon the plague literally wiped out Europe. Some countries lost up to half of their population, and the epidemic's victims numbered in the millions.

In the 18th century, European colonialists supplied North American Indians with blankets and tents that had previously been used by smallpox patients. Historians still debate whether this was done intentionally. Be that as it may, the resulting epidemic practically destroyed many native tribes.

Scientific progress has given humanity not only vaccinations and antibiotics, but also the ability to use the most deadly pathogens as weapons.

The process of rapid development of biological weapons began relatively recently - around the end of the 19th century. The Germans tried, to no avail, to cause an anthrax epidemic in enemy forces during World War I. During World War II, Japan created a special secret unit - Detachment 731, which carried out work in the field of biological weapons, including experiments on prisoners of war.

During the war, the Japanese infected the Chinese population bubonic plague, as a result, 400 thousand Chinese died. The Germans actively and quite successfully spread malaria in the territory of modern Italy, and about 100 thousand Allied soldiers died from it.

After the end of World War II, these weapons of mass destruction were no longer used, or at least no signs of their large-scale use were recorded. There is information that the Americans used biological weapons during the Korean War, but this fact could not be confirmed.

In 1979, an anthrax epidemic broke out on the territory of the USSR in Sverdlovsk. It was officially announced that the cause of the outbreak was the consumption of meat from infected animals. Modern researchers have no doubt that the real reason for the defeat of the population by this dangerous infection was an accident at a secret Soviet laboratory where biological weapons were being developed. In a short period, 79 cases of infection were recorded, 68 of which were fatal. This is a clear example of the effectiveness of biological weapons: as a result of accidental infection, the mortality rate was 86%.

Features of biological weapons

Advantages:

1. High efficiency of application;
2. The difficulty of timely detection by the enemy of the use of biological weapons;
3. The presence of a hidden (incubation) period of infection makes the fact of the use of this weapon of mass destruction even less noticeable;
4. A wide variety of biological agents that can be used to defeat the enemy;
5. Many types of biological weapons are capable of epidemic spread, that is, defeating an enemy essentially becomes a self-sustaining process;
6. The flexibility of this weapon of mass destruction: there are diseases that temporarily make a person incapacitated, while other ailments lead to death;
7. Microorganisms are capable of penetrating into any premises; engineering structures and military equipment also do not guarantee protection against infection;
8. The ability of biological weapons to infect people, animals, and crops. Moreover, this ability is very selective: some pathogens cause human diseases, others infect only animals;
9. Biological weapons have a powerful psychological impact panic and fear instantly spread to the population.

It should also be noted that biological weapons are very cheap; creating them is not difficult even for a state with low level technical development.

However, this type of WMD also has a significant drawback that limits the use of biological weapons: it is extremely indiscriminate.

Once exposed to a pathogenic anthrax virus or bacillus, you cannot guarantee that the infection will not devastate your country as well. Science is not yet able to provide guaranteed protection against microorganisms. Moreover: even a pre-created antidote may be ineffective, because viruses and bacteria are constantly mutating.

That is why in modern history biological weapons were practically not used. It is likely that this trend will continue in the future.

Classification of biological weapons

The main difference between different types of biological weapons is the pathogen used to defeat the enemy. It is he who determines the basic properties and characteristics of weapons of mass destruction. Causative agents of various diseases can be used: plague, smallpox, anthrax, Ebola fever, cholera, tularemia, tropical fever, as well as botulism toxins.

Various means and methods can be used to spread infections:

• artillery shells and mines;
• special containers (bags, packages or boxes) scattered from the air;
• aerial bombs;
• devices that disperse aerosols containing infectious agents from the air;
• contaminated household items (clothing, shoes, food).

Separately, entomological weapons should be highlighted. This is a type of biological weapon that uses insects to attack the enemy. IN different time For these purposes, bees, scorpions, fleas, Colorado potato beetles and mosquitoes were used. The most promising are mosquitoes, fleas and some types of flies. All these insects can carry various diseases of humans and animals. At various times, there were programs to breed agricultural pests in order to damage the enemy’s economy.

WMD protection

All methods of protection against biological weapons can be divided into two large groups:

• preventive;
• emergency.

Preventive control methods include vaccination of military personnel, civilians, and farm animals. The second direction of prevention is the creation of a whole set of mechanisms that make it possible to detect infection as quickly as possible.

TO emergency methods protection against biological threats include various methods of treating diseases, preventive measures in emergency cases, isolating the source of infection, and disinfecting the area.

During the Cold War, several exercises were conducted to eliminate the consequences of the use of biological weapons. Other modeling methods have also been used. As a result, it was concluded that a state with normally developed medicine is able to cope with any known species similar weapons mass destruction.

However, there is one problem: modern work on creating new types of combat microorganisms is based on methods of biotechnology and genetic engineering. That is, developers are creating new strains of viruses and bacteria with unprecedented properties. If such a pathogen breaks free, it could lead to the start of a global epidemic (pandemic).

IN Lately Rumors about so-called genetic weapons do not subside. Usually it refers to genetically modified pathogenic microorganisms that are capable of selectively infecting people of a certain nationality, race or gender. However, most scientists are quite skeptical about the idea of ​​such a weapon, although experiments in this direction have definitely been carried out.

Biological Weapons Convention

There are several conventions prohibiting the development and use of biological weapons. The first of them (Geneva Protocol) was adopted back in 1925 and directly prohibited engaging in such work. Another similar convention appeared in Geneva in 1972; as of January 2012, it had been ratified by 165 states.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

Biological weapons (BW) are weapons of mass destruction of people, animals and plants, the action of which is based on the properties of pathogenic microorganisms.

The concept of BW includes biological weapons (BW), biological munitions (BW) and their means of delivery.

Biological agents include bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, chlamydia, and fungi used to infect people, animals and plants. These agents are used in the form of bacterial formulations (dry or liquid), which are a mixture of pathogenic microorganisms with stabilizer substances that ensure the survival of biological agents in the aerosol.

For the first time, the targeted development of biological weapons began at the beginning of XX century.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the most intensive work on the creation of biological weapons was carried out by the Japanese military. They created two large research centers on the territory of occupied Manchuria, in which biological agents were tested not only on laboratory animals, but also on prisoners of war and the civilian population of China.

Potential BS of a potential enemy include such microorganisms that are characterized by:

– the required destructive effectiveness (the degree of lethality or severity of the diseases caused);

– high infectivity (i.e. the incidence of diseases among non-immune populations with a minimum infectious dose);

– significant stability in the external environment.

Significant importance is also attached contagiousness diseases, the duration of the incubation period and some other indicators that collectively determine the damaging effect and military-tactical effectiveness of the BS as a whole.

The following can be used as BS to destroy military personnel and the population:

· bacteria – causative agents of plague, anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, glanders, melioidosis and some other bacterial infections;

· rickettsiae – causative agents of epidemic typhus, rocky mountain spotted fever, Q fever;

Chlamydia - the causative agent of psittacosis;

· viruses – causative agents of smallpox, American equine encephalomyelitis, Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever, Dengue fever, Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, Lassa and Ebola fevers, Marburg disease, Rift Valley fever, Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever;

· fungi – causative agents of coccidioidosis and other deep mycoses.

Among the potential BS there may also be other types of microorganisms - Korean hemorrhagic fever (hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome), Legionnaires' disease and a number of others.

It is also necessary to keep in mind that, in addition to those listed, BS may also include pathogens that have undergone significant changes using genetic engineering, providing them with higher virulence, deviations in the antigenic structure, multiple resistance to antibiotics or other drugs, etc. .

Using achievements biological science, in particular, molecular biology and genetics, new strains of pathogens are purposefully created that are not amenable to indication, have resistance to drugs, disinfectants, increased toxicity and other pathogenic properties.

Features of biological weapons:

High pathogenicity (infectivity, virulence - the ability to infect humans with small quantities of microbial cells (from units to thousands);

High combat effectiveness - the ability to cause mass diseases when in different ways infection;

The possibility of an epidemic due to the high contagiousness of some BS;

Long-term existence of a focus of bacteriological infection (resistance of some pathogens in the external environment, especially spore forms);

The presence of a shorter incubation period from the moment of infection to the manifestation of the disease (from several hours to three days), the duration of which depends not only on the type of pathogen, but also on the route and dose of infection. It is more likely to expect an aerosol method of using BW, which allows infection through the respiratory tract and in large doses of microbial cells, which will lead to a reduction in the incubation period;

Difficulty in detecting the use of biological weapons;

Difficulty and duration of BO indication, especially when using combined pathogen formulations;

Difficulty in diagnosing diseases, especially when using combined formulations and unusual routes of entry into the human body;

Possibility of long-term storage of chemical weapons and relative low cost of production.

WAYS TO APPLY BO:

· creation of a biological aerosol that contaminates the air of the surface layers of the atmosphere;

· use of infected vectors for transmissible infection of people;

· hidden (sabotage) contamination of food products, drinking water, indoor air, and other objects external environment.

Air contamination is carried out using BBP, consisting of at least two parts: a reservoir filled with a BS formulation and a device that ensures the transfer (generation) of BS into an aerosol state as a result of an explosion, the action of compressed air or chemical reagents.

APs that generate aerosols through explosion or chemical reagents (for example, carbon dioxide) include aircraft bombs (mostly small caliber), artillery shells and mines.

BS aerosol generators, operating with the help of compressed gas, are installed on airplanes, rockets, balloons that deliver BBP to the target, as well as on ground installations and other devices that ensure the creation of a bacterial (biological) aerosol near military formations.

Depending on the type and design of the BBP, sources of aerosol formation are divided into linear (elevated or ground) and point (multipoint and multi-multipoint).

Linear sources raised above the earth's surface are created by spraying BS from an aircraft (cruise missile and other delivery vehicles) at an altitude of 50-200 m. The length of the source trace reaches several kilometers. The resulting aerosol cloud spreads in the direction of the wind, gradually reaching the earth's surface.

Ground sources are formed using special aircraft bombs, artillery shells, mines or covertly installed ground devices.

A multipoint aerosol source is created by using special cassettes with spherical aerial bombs, the design of which ensures their dispersion over an area approximately equal to the height of the cassettes' opening.

The aerosol generated in the air as a result of the use of BBP is a large number of heterogeneous in size liquid or solid particles of the BS formulation.

Coarse particles settle in the immediate vicinity of the aerosol source, intensively infecting the area, vegetation and objects located in the path of the aerosol cloud. These particles can subsequently (as a result of dust formation under the influence of wind, movement of people and equipment, blast waves and other factors) form secondary aerosols, the spread of which occurs in the same way as the primary ones.

Fine particles, the size of which does not exceed 1-5 microns, being the most stable fraction of the aerosol, settle extremely slowly (about 13 cm/h) and are capable of moving over considerable distances.

Particles ranging in size from 1 to 5 microns, when inhaled, enter the human respiratory tract and are retained in the smallest bronchi and alveoli - the most sensitive areas of the respiratory system to infection.

The spread of an aerosol cloud over an area is determined by the direction and speed of the wind, as well as the degree of vertical stability of the atmosphere. Depending on these parameters, as well as on the type and power of the aerosol source, the duration of passage of an aerosol cloud over objects can be from one to several tens of minutes or more.

Characteristic feature such a cloud is the possibility of diffusion (penetration) of aerosol particles inside leaking structures located in the path of its movement. Inside rooms and shelters that are not equipped with filter-ventilation devices, the concentration of BS may be significantly higher than outside, where BS is adversely affected by environmental factors.

The disintegration of bacterial (biological) aerosols occurs both as a result of their physical destruction and as a result of the biological action of environmental factors, such as wind, movement and turbulent mixing of surface layers of air.

To defeat military personnel and the population, in addition to BS aerosols, a potential enemy can use various arthropods (mosquitoes, fleas, lice, ticks, flies, etc.) artificially infected with bacteria, rickettsia and viruses, which retain the ability to transmit pathogens to humans for a long time. The lifespan of these infection carriers ranges from several days and weeks (mosquitoes, flies, lice) to a year and even several years (fleas, ticks).

The viability of insects and mites depends on environmental conditions, especially temperature and humidity. Therefore, the use of infected vectors by a potential enemy by dispersing them on the ground is likely only in the warm season at an air temperature of 10°C and above, relative humidity not lower than 50% and in the presence of natural factors approaching the natural habitat conditions of arthropods.

Delivery of infected arthropods to the target can be carried out using specially designed aerial bombs and containers.

Relatively small areas of infection, the likelihood of quickly identifying the fact of a bacteriological attack, the high sensitivity of vectors to environmental conditions, the effectiveness of insecticidal preparations and repellents and some other factors significantly limit the use of arthropods for the mass spread of BS.

A sabotage method of infection is also possible.

The most likely method to expect is the aerosol method of using BW.

The main measures to localize and eliminate the enemy’s use of bacteriological (biological) weapons include the following:

Active identification of sick people;

Examination of identified patients by medical teams;

Carrying out emergency nonspecific prophylaxis;

Carrying out sanitary treatment, disinfection, deratization and disinfestation measures;

Organization of hospitalization of sick people using transport specially allocated for this purpose;

Indication and identification of the pathogen;

Carrying out regime-restrictive measures (quarantine, observation);

Carrying out sanitary and educational work, sanitary and hygienic and anti-epidemic measures.

Great Britain Germany Egypt Israel India Iraq Iran Canada Kazakhstan China DPRK Mexico Myanmar Netherlands Norway Pakistan Russia Romania Saudi Arabia Syria USSR USA Taiwan France Sweden South Africa Japan

Biological weapons- these are pathogenic microorganisms or their spores, viruses, bacterial toxins, infected people and animals, as well as their means of delivery (missiles, artillery shells, mortar mines, aircraft bombs, automatic drifting balloons), intended for mass destruction of enemy personnel and population, farm animals, crops, contamination of food and water sources, and damage to certain types of military equipment and military materials. It is a weapon of mass destruction and is prohibited under the Geneva Protocol of 1925.

The damaging effect of biological weapons is based primarily on the use of the pathogenic properties of pathogenic microorganisms and the toxic products of their vital activity.

Biological weapons are used in the form of various ammunition; they are equipped with certain types of bacteria and viruses that cause infectious diseases that take the form of epidemics. It is intended to infect people, crops and animals, as well as contaminate food and water supplies.

Types of biological weapons are entomological weapons, which use insects to attack the enemy, and genetic weapons, designed to selectively destroy a population based on race, ethnicity, gender or other genetically determined characteristics.

Encyclopedic YouTube

• 1 / 5

  Methods of using biological weapons, as a rule, are:

  • missile warheads;
  • aircraft bombs;
  • artillery mines and shells;
  • packages (bags, boxes, containers) dropped from aircraft;
  • special devices that disperse insects from aircraft;
  • sabotage methods.

  In some cases, to spread infectious diseases, the enemy may leave contaminated household items when leaving: clothing, food, cigarettes, etc. In this case, illness can occur as a result of direct contact with contaminated items. It is also possible to deliberately leave infectious patients behind during departure so that they become a source of infection among the troops and the population. When ammunition filled with a bacterial formulation ruptures, a bacterial cloud is formed, consisting of tiny droplets of liquid or solid particles suspended in the air. The cloud, spreading with the wind, dissipates and settles on the ground, forming an infected area, the area of ​​which depends on the amount of the formulation, its properties and wind speed.

  History of application

  The use of a kind of biological weapon was known back in ancient Rome, when, during the siege of cities, the corpses of those who died from the plague were thrown behind the fortress walls to cause an epidemic among the defenders. Such measures were relatively effective, since in confined spaces, with a high population density and with a noticeable lack of hygiene products, such epidemics developed very quickly.

  The use of biological weapons in modern history.

  • 1346 - Bubonic plague begins in Europe. There is an assumption that this terrible “gift” was made by Khan Janibek. After an unsuccessful attempt to capture the city of Kafa (modern Feodosia), he threw into the fortress the corpse of a man who had died of the plague. Together with the merchants who fled the city in fear, the plague arrived in Europe.
  • 1763 - First concrete historical fact the use of bacteriological weapons in war - the deliberate spread of smallpox among Indian tribes. American colonialists sent blankets contaminated with the smallpox pathogen to their camp: a smallpox epidemic broke out among the Indians.
  • 1942 - UK: Operation Vegetarian plan to use anthrax in the war with Germany, weapons development and testing carried out on Gruinard Island. The island was contaminated with anthrax spores, remained in quarantine for 49 years, and was declared cleared in 1990.
  • - - Japan: Manchurian detachment 731 against 3 thousand people - as part of development. As part of testing - in combat operations in Mongolia and China. Plans for use in the areas of Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk, Ussuriysk, and Chita have also been prepared. The data obtained formed the basis for developments at the US Army Bacteriological Center at Fort Detrick (Maryland) in exchange for protection from persecution for Detachment 731 employees. However, the military-strategic result of combat use turned out to be more than modest: according to the “Report of the International Scientific Commission to Investigate the Facts of Bacteriological Warfare in Korea and China” (Beijing, 1952), the number of victims of artificially caused plague from 1940 to 1945 was approximately 700 people, then there turned out to be even less than the number of prisoners killed as part of the development.
  • According to the same “Report of the international scientific commission to investigate the facts of bacteriological warfare in Korea and China” (Beijing, 1952), during the Korean War, bacteriological weapons were used by the United States against the DPRK (“Only from January to March 1952 in 169 regions of the DPRK There were 804 cases of the use of bacteriological weapons (in most cases - bacteriological aerial bombs), which caused epidemic diseases." According to Assistant Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR Vyacheslav Ustinov, after the war he studied the available materials and came to the conclusion that the use of bacteriological weapons by the Americans could not be confirmed.
  • According to some researchers, the anthrax epidemic in Sverdlovsk in April 1979 was caused by a leak of anthrax bacteria from the Sverdlovsk-19 laboratory or was a sabotage by American intelligence services. These points of view were considered by the Russian microbiologist M. Supotnitsky. According to the official Soviet version, the cause of the disease was the meat of infected cows. On April 4, 1992, on the 13th anniversary of the tragedy, B. N. Yeltsin signed the Law of the Russian Federation “On improving pensions for the families of citizens who died as a result of anthrax in the city of Sverdlovsk in 1979,” equating the Sverdlovsk accident to the Chernobyl accident and actually recognizing the responsibility of the military bacteriologists for the death of innocent people. The version of an accidental leak from a bioweapons plant (Sverdlovsk-19) was once again confirmed by the President of the Russian Federation a month later.
  • In 1962, on the territory of modern Japanese prefecture Okinawa, the United States conducted tests on spraying spores of a pathogenic fungus that causes rice blast, as a result of which it was possible to “achieve partial success in collecting useful information.”

  Features of destruction by biological weapons

  When affected by bacterial or viral agents, the disease does not occur immediately; there is almost always a latent (incubation) period, during which the disease does not manifest itself by external signs, and the affected person does not lose combat capability. Some diseases (plague, cholera, anthrax) can be transmitted from a sick person to a healthy person and, spreading quickly, cause epidemics. It is quite difficult to establish the fact of the use of bacterial agents and determine the type of pathogen, since neither microbes nor toxins have any color, smell, or taste, and the effect of their action can appear after a long period of time. Detection of bacteria and viruses is only possible through special laboratory tests, which takes considerable time, making it difficult to carry out timely measures to prevent epidemic diseases.

  Modern strategic biological weapons use mixtures of viruses and bacterial spores to increase the likelihood deaths when used, however, as a rule, strains that are not transmitted from person to person are used in order to geographically localize their impact and thereby avoid their own losses.

  Bacterial agents

  Bacterial agents include pathogenic bacteria and the toxins they produce. Causative agents or toxins of the following diseases can be used to equip biological weapons.